Blockchain Daily News – Edition 168, 13.03.2018

Fans’ Section

“Technology, the thing that will make television so high def that I will no longer be allowed to appear on it,” John Oliver said. Specifically, Oliver wanted to discuss cryptocurrencies, the virtual currency that combines “everything you don’t understand about money … with everything you don’t understand about computers.”

Digital currencies are a revolutionary tool that central banks should consider, but they remain far too risky to be used as legal tender any time soon, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

FAO: The group of 20 finance chiefs will meet next week in Buenos Aires and this is when France and Germany said they will be proposing regulation on cryptos.

Deals & Investments

SBI Holdings has canceled a business partnership with Chinese cryptocurrency startup Huobi Group. In an announcement, SBI Holdings said it has decided to halt the business collaboration with Huobi for the launch two cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan.

FAO: Is it to avoid any regulatory risks? Nothing surprising, considering China clampdown on cryptos. Or maybe they found a better tech deal?

Future Stars?

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The platform identifies the legal and regulatory requirements of investor’s country of residence and determine the volume to which the investor can participate in a given ICO. HELIX Orange analyzes national regulations regarding investor protection, anti-money laundering and taxation for that purpose.

Exchanges & Trading Venues

Robert Collins Jr., the former president of the New York Mercantile Exchange, plans to launch the San Juan Mercantile Exchange in October as a venue for broker dealers and other professional investors to trade digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ripple.

TrueEX has announced an upcoming release of a regulated derivatives marketplace for digital assets as well as a partnership between their newly created affiliate, True Digital Holdings and Blockchain tech company ConsenSys to create a benchmark rate for the price of Ethereum.

FAO: So there you go: two more inhabitants to join the cryptoverse in the next period. Can’t keep up with all these new announcements? You can use our FREE ARCHIVE or, if you want even more insight on these developments, better email us as we provide Advisory Services too. Better check those side banners…

Venezuela beat every country on the globe in the race to launch a government-sponsored cryptocurrency. However, the circumstances under which Nicholas Maduro’s government announced the digital coin have attracted criticism not only from around the world, but also from opposition parties in the country itself.

Cryptocurrency mining is perfectly legal in Europe and only subject to standard electricity rules, according to an EU commissioner. In a statement, Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, addressed concerns about the power-intensive nature of cryptocurrency mining, while clarifying the regulatory status of the industry.

FAO: Ok, it’s legal. It can also be very profitable if you consider the hydroelectric power capacity of some states within the EU.

Latest Developments & Agreements

Accounting firm PwC is testing a blockchain analytics tool to help trace digital tokens after their launch, helping companies to guard against the risk their tokens will be misused as a medium for money laundering and other crimes.

FAO: Awesome! One tool per day. Yesterday we had that Thomson Reuters bitcoin sentiment gauge announcement – see it here.

Regulation

The co-CEO of Bitpanda, Austria’s biggest Bitcoin broker, thinks that Bitcoin should be regulated in a similar way to gold, as the company looks for the official stamp of approval, according to investing.com.

Other news

“Bitfinex’ed,” the pseudonymous blogger and persistent critic of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, has hired a prominent lawyer amid a long-running battle with the controversial company. Stephen Palley, a partner at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Anderson Kill, fired off a sternly worded letter to Bitfinex’s general counsel, Stuart Hoegner. In the letter, a Palley warned that if he finds that the exchange is behind “threats” that have been made against his client, “there will be legal consequences.”

FAO: This Bitfinex critic said last month that an army of bots got him suspended by Twitter.